Movie Time! 'Sweeney Todd'

“Johnny Depp (in an Oscar-nominated role) reteams with director Tim Burton for this adaptation of the hit Broadway musical about the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Depp plays Sweeney Todd, a man who becomes a deranged murderer seeking revenge after being falsely imprisoned. To add to the macabre nature of his crimes, he enlists the help of his lover, Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), who disposes of the victims by baking them into pies—sought after by all of London.”

It has taken me three years to see this movie (it came out in 2007. Boy, do I remember watching T.V. and seeing the previews for this and thinking, “god dang it, I can’t go!!”

I love Tim Burton films in general. I’m sure I haven’t seen them all, but I’ve seen quite a few (‘The Corpse Bride,’ ‘Edward Scissorhands,’ ‘Sleep Hollow,’ etc…). He always does an amazing job on all of his work. I love that the colors still come through, but are still very saturated with black and white. I like the old-fashioned costuming—the long flowing dresses that the women wear… the eeriness of them…

Sweeney Todd is no different when it comes to those things.

I loved the songs in this musical (as I write this, I have the song called ‘Johanna’ in my head. That was one of my favorites!). In truth, the songs are quite catchy. They reuse the melodies for background music when there are just places where the characters are talking. It’s different than ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Wicked.’ The plot itself is amazing! I can’t imagine myself ever lying in bed thinking up something like that.

What I didn’t like about this movie was that I had to wait over forty minutes before the blood started flying everywhere. I guess I expected it to come up right away, given that I had only seen the previews and it was implied. So while watching the movie, I had to step back and remind myself that they (being the writers and characters) need to give their viewers background information so they know why he’s doing what he’s doing. I just get really excited and I wanted to jump into the action.

I think my favorite character was Antony. He’s a minor character, but when he sang, he made me smile with his sweet voice (even though he made some freaky-looking faces when he sang). He was the romantic type, which was lovely.

Even though Johnny Depp isn’t well-known for his singing ability, I thought he did a fine job. Frankly, I was expecting a lot worse! Same with Helena Bonham Carter.

This movie is rated R for graphic, bloody violence. There’s a crap-ton of it. Even though the blood in the movie is obviously fake (if you look close enough, you can see that it has a bit of an orange tinge while real blood is typically darker… at least that’s what the costume blood you can find in any store around Halloween time looks like), if you are even remotely bothered by blood, this is not the movie for you. As for everyone else, I highly recommend it!

I swear, as I watch more movies like this, I can handle more and more grotesque movies… Two good things have come from watching more horror films: I have a stronger stomach (realized or unrealized before) and I’m getting more horror research for my own story!

Speaking of which, that’s coming up soon. I’ve said that a few times, but I’m not kidding this time. I have next to nothing going on this week, so it will be up. Then I can get working on chapter four!

Thanks for reading!

--Jude Rosenberg